the big river

[toadhunter2]

hey have any of you guys out west been on the back waters of 13 yet was thinking about going over and trying it but have not seen any ice reports anywhere?I know this summer when I was over bass fishing I seen a lot of nice perch down south and seen a lot of nice gills getting caught plus we caught a lot of big pike this year and in most of the spots I am hoping to get on the ice this year and try for some but don't want to drive the 1 1/2 hours for thin or no ice

[waterfowler04]

plenty of ice ranging from 6-10" not sure what this week of weather will do to the ice.

[toadhunter2]

have you been out at Michelson or palisades I seen some of the bigest perch in years this spring at Michelson's I landed 3 of them on a chaterbait that were all 13"-14" and as big around as a 20oz dew bottle plus seen a lot of big gills caught from shore this summer in millers

[waterfowler04]

I have not been to mickelsons. Last i knew it millers didn't have any water in it. Maybe they are fishing at the mouth of the cut not sure.

[toadhunter2]

hey is there anyplace over there to get big roaches "6-8" I know Milo and beavers have small minnows, fat heads and small shiners in the summer just trying to see if I can get them or need to bring them with me from out here 

[toadhunter2]

fished over here yesterday started at Michelson's caught one small bass and 4 dink perch fished for about 2 hours then ran up to the causeway there were a handfull of guys fishing there so went and checked big slough there was 5-6 guys fishing there I was surprised they were fishing south of the boat ramp and not up at the hole in the dike to spring lake watched them for a minute looked like not much going on so went over to lower subula and found some fish in 12 feet of water but man I have never caught so many 6" white croppies in my life we probably got close to 100 of them things plus the unlimited supply of 4-6" perch I ended up keeping 2 gills that were over 8" and 2 croppies that were 10" plus we got 3 bass and 2 snake norts on flags all still swimming

[Kevin23]

The bass and northern at lower sabula? What were you baiting them with?

[toadhunter2]

big shiners we got them on the weed edge over by the rocks on the road  in 3-5ft of water had flags set on the inside edge between the rocks and the weeds and on the outside edge

[waterfowler04]

So i heard that mickelsons had open water as of yesterday. I was in the galena area yesterday and had about a foot of ice. Was at a local farm pond today around freeport and it had 8" of solid clear ice. How can 40 miles make that big of a difference in ice conditions?

[mr_mojo]

Wind, sun, current and birds. Two bodies of water 4 miles from each other can be significantly different. Open water and 8 inches of ice is a BIG difference, but not unheard of.

[blufloyd]

those who follow ice know that I 80 or I 88 make big differences